Shadow, who are you ?

NO SHADOW WITHOUT LIGHT, NO LIGHT WITHOUT SHADOW

Ashok Silwal

Impalpable, volatile,
Mysterious and enigmatic,
Mute but ‘speaking’ sometimes,
You can be ‘nothing’, like a ghost,
Or protective near a tree.
I can touch you, but I cannot take you..
So, you are fascinating in some way
Because you hide and you reveal,
Never alone,
Always depending on a light
And a person or an object.
You stimulate the imagination:
Sometimes with very precise outlines,
Sometimes fluffy,
Long and slender, short and chunky,
Sometimes almost nonexistent and faded.
Following me or accompanying my steps…

Shadow… who are you ?

I can create you with my hands
As the sculptor does with clay;
Then you become a dove, a dog a rabbit
On the wall.
Some have made a theatrical performance of you
And you seem floating in another reality
Like little dancing clouds.

But you are bossy…
Preventing the passage of the light,
Natural or artificial.
You inspired poets, writers, painters, musicians,
Like a Muse.

Sometimes you give off a spark
Like a hope of someone, of something,
If not outside, inside.
Anonymous in the color,
From pale gray to dark black,
Almost unsettling very now and again.

Are you here to protect me or to judge me?
Sometimes you scare me!
Are you a question or evidence?
Are you creating suspicion or poetry?
Metaphorical presence…

No shadow without light,
No light without shadow.
So I love your impalpable shadow
Because it tells me
That you are just behind,
Immediately beside…..
Presence in absence.